A lot of people here experienced the Good Old Days very differently than my family did, I guess

[think]

54. AFL-CIO’s Trumka: USTR Told Us Murder Isn’t A Violation Under U.S. Trade Deals

AFL-CIO’s Trumka: USTR Told Us Murder Isn’t A Violation Under U.S. Trade Deals

By Michael McAuliff - 04/22/2015 07:32 am ET | Updated Apr 22, 2015

WASHINGTON — Defenders of the White House push for sweeping trade deals argue they include tough enforcement of labor standards. But a top union leader scoffed at such claims Tuesday, revealing that administration officials have said privately that they don’t consider even the killings of labor organizers to be violations of those pacts.

Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, testified to that claim at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on legislation to grant President Barack Obama so-called fast-track authority to cut at least two new enormous trade agreements with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union. It appears to be the first time anyone has revealed such a stance on the part of a U.S. government that has been touting its efforts to improve wages and working conditions among its trading partners, relying in part on trade agreements.

But Trumka charged that the labor standards included in those trade deals are poorly enforced, and that before he would back the White House’s push for the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, he wanted to see tougher labor provisions that could be enforced...

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/22/fast-track-trade_n_7113412.html

Guatemala: 68 Union Leaders Murdered before a Single Arrest

MARCELA ESTRADA JUNE 3, 2014 AT 2:19 PM

On Saturday, Guatemala’s Ministry of Justice announced the capture of three individuals responsible for the murder of trade unionist Carlos Hernández. Hernández was secretary of culture on the executive committee of the National Union of Health Workers, and one of many in the long list of trade unionists murdered each year in Guatemala.

The murder or disappearance of workers and trade union leaders in large numbers as a method of intimidation is ordinary in countries like Guatemala. Beyond the criminal act itself, it is the impunity that has become the most sensitive topic for the government, and particularly for President Otto Pérez Molina’s administration...

https://panampost.com/marcela-estrada/2014/06/03/guatemala-68-union-leaders-murdered-before-a-single-arrest/

Twenty trade union leaders murdered in the Philippines over the last decade

This latest murder follows that of Romy Almacin last month, who like Antonio Petalcorin – was executed in broad daylight by a masked individual on a motorbike.

A spokesperson for the trade union federation (ITF) said that:

Quote:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this cowardly slaughter of a man representing his members. We further condemn the continuing murders of other trade unionists, and the climate of impunity which is allowed to exist by the Philippines government. We offer our sincere condolences to the grieving family”.

There have been over 140 reported political killings in the Philippines under the presidency of Benigno Aquino – including a group of 30 journalists who were slaughtered by a group of masked gunmen. Other sources claim the real number of ‘political’ killings or disappearances to be around the 1,000 mark.

A list of trade unionists murdered in the Philippines since 2002:...

Read more:
https://libcom.org/blog/twenty-trade-union-leaders-murdered-philippines-over-last-decade-15072013

Death Stalks Colombia's Unions

Launched July 14, 2013

As Colombia struggles to free itself from a vortex of violence, union members, human rights activists and others still feel threatened by criminal elements––and their own government.

Since 1986, more than 2,800 labor leaders and union members have been killed in Colombia. In recent years this South American nation has led the world in this grim statistic. And more than 9 out of 10 of these cases remain unsolved.

Read more:
http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/south-america-colombia-labor-union-human-rights-judicial-government-corruption-paramilitary-drug-violence-education